I was out for an evening with a friend, getting the relief from pressure and catching up on our lives. We got around to the subject of books.

"When do you read?" My friend asked me. My mind took off on a fast journey through my bookshelves and piles of looks. I know some people make artsy towers and pyramids out of books, but I'm not that kind of woman. Mine are just…stacks (摞). Stacks on end tables, stacks on the floor.

When do I read? I read when I'm when I'm happy. I read when I'm bored. I read when I'm defeated. I read when I'm filled with anxiety. My self-medication for the thoughts is not exercise or alcohol, but Jane Austen. I absolutely must slow down the pace of my thoughts when living through a walk to the town Meryton in Pride and Prejudice. I read to visit places I'll never see in real life. Thank you, Vikram Seth, for making me completely involved in 1950s India. Thank you, Khaled Hosseini, for giving me a chance to see 1970s high society of New York City, I'll spend some time with Edith Wharton. I read when I'm recalling the good old days. Many of my favorite books of childhood are still my favorite books. I read when I get so addicted to an author that I want to read everything she has ever written, including her Christmas cards and grocery lists.

Of course, I didn't say any of these things to my friend. I stared at her with a blank, foolish look.

"When do I read?" I repeated.

"Yes. When do you find time?" she asked.

"When? Evenings. Bedtime. Dinnertime, if I'm eating alone. Sunday afternoons. Moments stolen here and there. And now if you'll excuse me, I have a date with Mr. Hemingway," I said.

Every year millions of breeding monarch butterflies in the U. S. and southern Canada search for milkweed plants on which to lay their eggs. Concern over shrinking habitat （居住地）has urged conservationists to create monarch-friendly spaces along roadsides, which are more than enough within the butterflies range and usually publicly owned. But traffic noise stresses monarch caterpillars out, a new study finds. They eventually do become desensitized to it—but that might cause trouble to them later on, too. 

Noise pollution is known to affect the lives of birds, whales and other creatures. But until recently, scientists had never tested whether it leads to a stress response in insects. When Andy Davis, a conservation physiologist at the University of Georgia, noticed online videos of roadside monarch caterpillars apparently trembling as cars came by, he wondered how the constant noise might affect them. Davis built a custom caterpillar heart monitor, fitting a small sensor into a microscope to precisely measure monarch caterpillars' heart rates as they listened to recordings of traffic sounds in the laboratory.

The hearts of caterpillars exposed to highway noise for two hours beat 17 percent faster than those of caterpillars in a silent room. But the heart rates of the noise-exposed group returned to baseline levels after hearing the traffic sounds nonstop for their entire 12-day development period, Davis and his colleagues reported in May in Biology Letters. 

This desensitization could be problematic when the caterpillars become adults, Davis says. A rapid stress response is vital for monarch butterflies on their two-month journey to spend winters in Mexico, as they narrowly escape predators（捕食者）and fight wind currents. 

Whether a noisy developmental period reduces monarchs' survival rates remains unknown, notes Ryan Norris, an ecologist at the University of Guelph in Ontario, who was not involved in the study. But in any case, he believes roadside habitat almost certainly drive up the butterflies' death rates as a result of crashes with cars. " There is so much potential road habitat for monarchs and other insects一it would be such a nice thing to capitalize on, " Norris says. ‌" But you just can't get around the traffic. " Davis adds: " I think roads and monarchs just don't mix. "

As a language learning enthusiast, I've come up with the best apps for learning English from the thousands of mobile apps out there.

Best for Pronunciation: ELSA Speak

ELSA Speak is probably the best mobile app around for helping you improve your English pronunciation. The app's greatest strength is its intensive AI feedback, but ELSA also provides mini-training sessions to really perfect your pronunciation. The AI analyzes your recordings based on pronunciation, intonation and fluency then points out exactly which parts sound inaccurate.

Best for Immersing in English Videos: FluentU

FuentU is a language learning app that teaches you English through authentic videos like news reports, movie scenes and interviews, with learner tools for all levels. Each clip has interactive subtitles so if you're not sure what a word means, you can hover over it and get in explanation. The app also gives video examples for each word so you can team vocabulary in context.

Best for Practical Topics: Babbel

Babbel has you learn and practice English with realistic conversations that surround things that you're personally interested in. Lessons are short and consist of written and audio versions of the grammar featured in the lessons. Then you are able to complete practice exercises to solidify your understanding.

Best for Fun Beginner Lessons: Lingodeer

Lingodecr uses games and short exercises to teach beginner and intermediate English learners. Lingodeer takes a gamified (游戏化的) approach to language learning with a goal-oriented curriculum consisting of structured lessons and regular reviews. Lingodeer's lessons are arranged according to themes, such as sports, weather, parts of the body and shopping.